Die Schwester
by School of Seven Bells
Summary: Evelina spent her entire life idolizing her soldier of a brother, and when her father puts his reputation before his duties as a parent, he inadvertently sends her running to the one place she feels safe.
1. No Wonder He Left

Disclaimer: I don't own SNK, nope, definitely do not.

Notes:

When I start writing for a new fandom, before I can even begin to write things that feature canon-characters only (other than fluffy oneshots), I absolutely have to write fics that heavily feature OCs because I'm still figuring out how to write that world, how to lose myself in it, etc, etc, and I'd rather go through the learning process with my OCs because there's more room for trial and error, experimentation, etc  
>Anybody else have this thing?<p>

This is really just for me to play around with the characters and the SNK world. This isn't meant for anybody to particularly like it. I'll try self-betaing, and won't half-ass any plot, writing, etc, but unlike I do for fics that I really *intend* for people to reallllly enjoy, I would stress myself out.

There will actually be a large, large chunk of this fic that does not involve canon characters at all which will start very shortly.

*Title means sister in German - it's subject to change, but I needed a working title.

I have this big headcanon that Erwin Smith was born a noble from Wall Sina..so I went with it.

* * *

><p><strong>Prologue: No Wonder He Left The Nobility<strong>

* * *

><p>Evelina had always known that her family was a little strange. 'Normal' was the last word anybody would use to describe the Smith family. For one, nobody really talked about the brother she idolized and rarely saw, because according to her mother, he was "an ungrateful fool who turned his back on his family." Erwin, however, said that he had "finally had enough of the nobility's bullshit" and decided to do something about it by getting himself out of it by choice before their parents made a show of disowning him to save face. She might have been biased, but she was always more apt to believe her brother over their parents. Part of her bias toward her brother in spite of the whopping seventeen-year age difference may have had something to do with the fact that their childhood experiences were relatively comparable.<p>

_Sit straight Erwin; Evelina, a lady walks with her head up and looks straight ahead_

_No son of mine will be seen running around with the tailor's son; you cannot be friends with Lenore, she is from the outskirts of Wall Sina_

_As your father's elder brother has no heir, you are the Smith's heir; as your brother turned his back on us, you are the Smith's heir_

_They are beneath you, son; the commoners are worth less than we are_

_Stop filling your head with ideas from those books; stop letting that traitor poison your mind_

_You still talk to those kids from the edge of Sina?; stop writing him, he will only steer you the wrong way_

_Good boys do not let their trousers get dirty; good girls never wear trousers_

_No, son, the soup spoon is for soup; it isn't proper to be left-handed, learn to use your right_

_Comb your hair; no, you cannot cut your hair_

_Part your hair to the right, it looks better that way; never let your hair come unbraided_

_Always say please and thank you; a lady does not demand, she requests_

_Make your smile less disturbing; do not snort when you laugh_

_I will slap you if you say something like that again; roll your eyes one more time, I dare you_

The trickiest part about their parents was the fact that they were not awful enough to simply hate. They were not physically abusive, and only occasionally were Maite's words cruel enough to consider emotional abuse. At times, though neither parent was particularly nurturing, they had their good moments. Sometimes, they were nice enough to where Evelina would think that it wasn't them she hated, but their ideals. Until she is punished for playing hide-and-seek with servants' children, or slapped by her mother for finding Erwin's old clothes and wearing them because dresses were so miserable, or scolded for using the wrong eating utensil.

Every move they made, their parents had a million reasons why it was wrong. Otto Smith was not quite as strict as his wife. Otto's only concerns were that his children grew up knowing how to acceptable members of noble society; he could not care less whether his son occasionally slouched in his chair, or if his daughter liked to look at the ground as she walked, or if they wanted to join the military, play with butchers' children, or befriend servants' daughters. Maite, on the other hand, was a direct descendant of the royal family – her grandmother was his grandfather's youngest sister – and put the utmost emphasis on public appearances. Otto had undeniably married up the social hierarchy and sentenced his offspring to a life of demanding rigidity and constant judgment. Both brother and sister learned the hard way that there was no room for independence in thought, action, or speech. It was either right or entirely, disgustingly wrong.

At seventeen years his junior, it was admittedly strange that Evelina maintained a somewhat steady, albeit long distance, relationship with her brother. She was not born until he was halfway through with his first year with the Survey Corps, and even then, he found out about her birth accidentally. He had accompanied then-commander Commander Willis to Wall Sina to gain support from the nobles for an expedition beyond the walls, and while kissing up to a nobleman whose name was hardly worth remembering, he overheard some women gossiping how Maite Smith gave birth a few months ago at the unusually old age of thirty-six, and _of course_ it had to be an affair, because their son and only other child was seventeen, so if they wanted more they would have had them earlier. If only they knew that the Smiths had not shared a bedroom since Erwin was small. If only they knew that Maite could not even say the word 'sex' unless she had had a few drinks. If _anybody_ in that household was having an affair, if would have been Otto.

Although he knew that it would be years before he could be of any use to his sister, he promised himself that should he still be alive, he would regularly write to her and offer himself as an ear to shout at (through ink and paper) or a source of advice. If anybody could help her survive their parents and still end up a remotely decent person, it was him. Being an active player in her life was all but entirely out of the question with his duties to the Survey Corps, but when he had the chance – usually three or four times a year for a maybe twenty-four hour period – he was always welcome at his childless uncle's house. It wasn't much, but to Evelina, it was better than nothing, and to Erwin, it was a way for him to make himself into a decent human being. He knew the horror that was being the child of Otto and Maite Smith, and he'd be damned is he did not at least try to help his sister through her own ordeal with them.

Evelina, though she had tried, never could figure out how to thank him enough. She also owed a great deal to her uncle Felix, her father's childless elder brother. Felix had graciously agreed to be their accomplice in their plan to keep in contact. He allowed them to send the letters to and from his address, and whenever Erwin did make it to Sina for his day-long visits, his door was open to him.

Without her uncle, Evelina would not have her brother, and without her brother, she would not have an 'I Survived Growing up a Smith' success story to model herself after. Erwin was in many ways more of an authority figure and role model to her than her parents were. To her, he was a hero and somebody to idolize. Erwin gave her hope that there were people in the world who cared about things more important than what somebody's surname was, or how much money someone's parents had, or what hand a person ate and wrote with. While she had no burning desire to go to the extent of joining the Survey Corps, Evelina desperately wanted to follow Erwin's path of independence.

In her mind, there was no greater achievement than independence.


	2. A Night Like This

**A Night Like This**

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><p>"Mother, do I <em>have <em>to go to this party? Claudia and I aren't even friends," Evelina said, though she knew that no amount of begging, pleading, or cursing the birthday girl's name would convince her mother to allow her to stay home.

"Nonsense," said the middle-aged woman as she waved the maidservant off. "Claudia has been your friend for years," she shook her head and made a comment about how the servant did not know how to properly lace a corset and undid her poor job.

"Actually, she and I loathe each other," Evelina groaned in discomfort as her mother pulled far too tightly on the corset strings. "She can hardly stand to look at me. Do you really want to ruin her birthday by making her put up with my ugly face?"

"You are going to the party tonight and that is final," Maite Smith pointed to the dress neatly laid out on her daughter's bed. "Put that dress on and do something with your hair. Our servants seem to be incompetent; you will have to do it yourself."

"Yes ma'am."

_I hate parties, _she had written in her last letter to her brother. _Claudia Arend turns fifteen this month, and you know how much she hates me, but her parents invited us to her birthday party, so I obviously have to attend. Mother's friends are all so stuck-up and boring, and their sons and daughters are no different. I just want to run around town, barefoot, and munching on apples all day. To me, that is a perfect day. Mother drags me to these parties because I need to be social, but what she doesn't understand is that I do have friends, she just pretends they don't exist._

Leonie Pascal and Arthur Bode, for example. The boyfriend and girlfriend duo were two years older than Evelina, her best and arguably only close friends, but also servants' children and therefore were not good enough to associate with someone of noble birth. Leonie's mother used to be one of the Smiths' maids, and Arthur's mother was her nanny, but when Maite discovered that her daughter had befriended her staff's children, they were fired solely on those grounds. She has written it to Erwin many times, and truly meant it, but she would not have hated being nobility so much if her peers did not demonize the lower classes so much so that she had to sneak around to see her best friends. Wealth had its perks, not even she could deny that, and it was nice to have the option to make servants do mundane tasks, but sometimes, a girl just wants to step into the kitchen and make her own salad without it being deemed scandalous.

"Wish me luck, Mr. Whiskers," Evelina said to her tattered terrycloth cat, scratching its ears like a real cat. "I am about to walk through the valley of bullshit."

"Ev-a-leeee-na! Downstairs," called her mother from the foyer. "The carriage is ready!"

"Coming, Mother! One moment," she shouted back, hairpins sticking out of her mouth as she rushed to pin the last stubborn pieces back.

:-:

_All right, _she thought to herself later that evening as she stood alone by the sweets table. _This could have been worse._

Claudia was still an arrogant little witch, and she always would be, but was too busy with her friends that night to bother with lighting the bitch torch. The birthday girl's decision to leave her guest of dishonor alone enabled said dishonored guest plenty of time to stand alone by the window and devour all of the sweets that the other girls were never going to touch anyway. Her father was too busy playing poker with the other girls' fathers, and her mother was preoccupied with keeping up her socialite image to dare drag Evelina into a conversation.

The Arends' home had a casement window large enough for a person to leap through that provided a beautiful view of the city streets, so Evelina stood with her back to the festivities, munch on chocolate truffles, and gazed out the window. Ironically, the event she thought she would hate the most turned out to be the only one remotely enjoyable.

"Vine, Miss Smith?"

Evelina looked over her right shoulder, fully intending to decline, but changed her mind when she saw who was offering her the drink. "Ralf! This is a surprise," she exclaimed gleefully. "I was not expecting you to be here tonight."

"I wasn't planning on it, but you know how persuasive Papa can be," Ralf ran his fingers through his tousled brown hair and joined his cousin by the window.

"Uncle Urs told you there would be free alcohol," Evelina laughed. "Typical Larsen."

"You certainly are one to talk," Ralf winked impishly and downed his glass of vine. "Smith. Though I suppose we aren't like the rest of our family."

"_Our _family? It will never not be weird," she said, stuffing her face with another truffle. "Hearing you say that. We are hardly related; I feel like we are good friends rather than relatives."

"My father is your mother's cousin. I guess that makes us not related closely enough for it to be disgusting if I kissed you."

"Right," Evelina snorted. "You and I both know your door opens inward. How _is _Sander, anyway?"

Ralf waggled his eyebrows suggestively and put on a seductive purr. "Are you asking about his health or his battering ram?"

"Why would I be interested in your boyfriend's…never mind."

"He's fine," Ralf chuckled and stepped forward to sit on the windowsill. "What about you? Still like boys, I assume? Because if not, then I know a girl you would hit it off with and-"

"Ralf! There you go," Evelina threw her head back in laughter and playfully punched his shoulder. "Arthur and Leonie have been trying to set me up with Arthur's brother for years, and now you are trying to set me up with girls? Can't a girl just be single and enjoy it?"

The older teenager leaned further back against the window and let out a yawn. "At your age and in our society, it is kind of a thing to gossip about."

"Then be my beard if you're so concerned," Evelina snorted and stuffed a truffle into his open mouth. "Like you said; distant enough relatives for it to not be considered incest, yeah?"'

Ralf made a face and rolled his eyes, raised his arms in the universal surrendering gesture, and bit off half of the truffle and shoved the other half in Evelina's mouth. "Nice try kid, but I had to suffer through years of inquiries and matchmaking attempts, and dear cousin, I love you, but it simply would not be fair to spare you from the torture. Think of our other cousins, the ones we are too related to, the ones we cannot even think of bearding for. How you could even think of us rubbing this unfair reality in their faces is beyond me, Evelina. I have always operated under the assumption that you were the _nice _Smith, but I suppose that designation belongs to Uncle Otto, since you are clearly the adversary of all things pure and just."

"I hate you right now," Evelina said, polishing off the last of the chocolate truffles. "Do you think my mother would notice if I skipped out and went for a walk?"

"The sun is almost set, where were you thinking of walking?"

"The Arends have a large enough garden to stroll through," she answered, grabbing a square of peppermint bark. "Besides, if I do not get out of this stuffy room, I will either leap from that window and purposely break my legs for the sake of entertainment, or, eat the entire sweets table and gain ten or twenty, so I will ask again. Do you think Mother will notice?"

"The more she drinks the less she cares, and I saw her finish at least three glasses of something clear, and we both know Auntie Maite does not drink water in public."

"Nor does she drink it in private," Evelina snorted before leaning forward to kiss Ralf on the cheek. "Thank you so much. If she asks you where I went, make something up."

"I'll tell her you are closed for business and you went to find some sort of blood-catching apparatus," Ralf said, gladly taking over her position as sweets eater.

"Closed for bus – ? oh. Disgusting, very disgusting, but believable."

As inconspicuously as she could she tiptoed to the glass door that opened up into the Arends' backyard. From inside, she surveyed the area and pieced together how she would run across the patio, down its shrubbery-lined brick path, and into the flower garden. Evelina casted a final precautionary glance over her shoulder, and once certain her mother was not watching her, slipped through the doorway and dashed across the moonlit patio. Halfway down the off-shooting path, her left heel caught on a raised brick and her face became acquainted with a thorny shrubbery.

"Dammit," she swore, angrily yanking off her shoes and throwing them into the shrubs, not caring where they landed. "Please don't fall off," she begged her feet. "I am not mean to you on purpose. Those shoes are too small, I will talk mother into having larger ones made, but you have to promise not to fall off."

:-:

Flowers, though they made her sneeze, were indisputably better company than the people at Claudia's party. She never terribly minded her own birthday parties, because although she could never invite her two best friends, she had some acquaintances within the nobility whose company she enjoyed, and when it came to parties in her honor, her mother always gave her full discretion over whom to invite, but other people's parties were case-by-case situations. At least for the duration of that evening, she would rather take her chances with her allergies than with her peers.

_Hello old friends, _she humorously thought, giving an ostentatious wave to the plants. She sat in her favorite spot in the Arends' garden atop a large rock among the white amaryllises, orange begonias, and red zinnias, and set to dissecting specimens of each. Her governess, if she bothered teaching science anymore, would have been impressed with her willful explorations into the field of biology. Unfortunately, she had her last science lesson shortly before her eleventh birthday when her parents (read her mother) insisted that science was of no importance to a noble girl, and even her governess thought it was a shame to stop teaching Evelina's favorite subject. The teenager liked to think that in the end, she had the last laugh, because as long as somebody knew how to read, they only had to find books to educate themself about a topic.

From the pages of botany books, she learned about the parts of a flower and how the male and female reproductive organs differed from species to species. For example, each amaryllis flower contained both stamens and pistils, meaning both male and female reproductive parts, and begonias only had one or the other at the center of the flower. She knew botanical vocabulary words such as sessile, spadix, and inflorescence, words that most of her peers had never heard before. Her passion for biology was something she kept close to herself both because her mother would disapprove and because most of her peers would check out at the mention of any scientific terms, except, ironically enough, the uneducated Arthur and Leonie.

The fact that the poor servants' children were more willing to listen to her rattle on about angiosperms, evergreens, and nomenclature than educated people never ceased to amaze her. Leonie always joked about how the scientific names for some plant species would have made fun names for children, jokes which never failed to make Arthur blush a hundred shades of red.

Evelina was so engrossed with playing with the amaryllises' anthers that she almost ignored the _clip-clop, clip-clop_ of horseshoes against the cobblestone street. The only thing that made her stand up and run to the wrought iron fence by the street was the realization that she heard not one, not two, but at least three horses. Members of the military police either patrolled on foot or in pairs of horseback riders, and at that time of night, anybody in the capital who owned horses were at home or at Claudia's party. To her right, she saw a group of no more than ten riders sporting black capes. As her eyes better adjusted to the darkness, she saw that the capes weren't black, but rather, a dark shade of green.

"Scouting Legion," Evelina exclaimed in a whisper. Members of the Scouting Legion were rarely seen in Sina in-uniform, but she recalled from her brother's latest letter that since his scouting formation was still a new implementation, a handful of members were to report directly to Generalissimo Zacklay.

_If they are on their way to meet with the Supreme Commander, then they are going the most roundabout ass-backwards way imaginable, his office is behind them, _she thought before it dawned on her that they must be coming _from _the meeting rather than heading to it. That meant…

The wrought iron fence in front of her had rhombus-shaped holes large enough for her to fit her feet through them and she used those to stand so that her head was over the top of it. She scanned the group of soldiers until, to her relief, the person she was searching for came into view.

"Erwin! Hey, Erwin," Evelina used what little upper body strength she had to propel herself over the top of the fence, earning herself a massive tear in the back of her dress in the process, but at least she landed on her feet. She held her dress up to her lower thighs to make it possible to run and sped toward the group on horseback. "Oh, you're okay!"

The soldiers all halted their horses and tan man with dark hair and facial hair, who must have guessed Erwin and Evelina were related, smiled just barely and nodded to Erwin to grant him permission to briefly converse with Evelina. Erwin, however, despite always being happy to see her, did not seem too impressed with the state of her.

"Inna, what are you doing out here alone at night? It's dangerous, someone could grab you and you coud have really hurt yourself jumping over that fe-"

"Relax, big brother," she sighed, finally reaching his horse. "I'm hardly out wandering the streets. I jumped that fence right there, see, you just saw me do it. I was escaping from Claudia Arend's party by mutilating plants in her garden – for science, I don't just go around dismembering other people's flowers for the hell of it – and I heard the horses so I…assumed it was you. Tore my dress in the process, but it's not like I was ever going wear the ghastly thing again anyway. You know I like dresses, but there's a difference between a dress and an instrument through which death by asphyxiation can be carried out. Are you going to hug me, or are you going to sit on your fancy horse so you'll look cool in front of your Military friends?"

Erwin glanced to the man on his left as if to request permission to dismount his horse and leapt to the street once it appeared to be granted.

"I will not keep him talking for long," Evelina said to the man, whom she assumed was Commander Shadis. "I only want a minute."

The commander smiled lightly and told her to take her time. Behind his smile, Evelina got the sense that with the high mortality rate among members of the Corps, chances for any of them to witness a happy reunion were few and far between, so of course he was happy to give her a small block of time to talk to her brother.

"Come here, kid," Erwin said gleefully, grabbing Evelina and pulling her into a bear hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay," she said, but it was muffled because Erwin stood over twenty centimeters taller than she did and her face was buried in his chest. "I missed you so much."

"What was that?"

"I said," she turned her head to the side so his chest wouldn't muffle her again and clung to him like a child would their security blanket. "I'm glad you are okay and I missed you."

"Is everything okay at home? I will march in there and threaten Mother and Father if I have to," he said, jovial, but also completely serious.

"Father drinks, gambles, and makes lewd comments to Mother and she gossips, drinks, fires and hires staff because who needs a reason, certainly not Maite Smith, and corrects every last thing I do. I would say my home life is pretty stable, considering it has not changed since, oh, I don't know, birth? Other than –" Evelina's sentence was interrupted by a man atop a horse leaning down and sniffing her like a bloodhound.

"Oh, that's Mike, I told you about him before, right?"

"Depends, is this Mike-from-your-trainee-days Mike?"

Mike grinned, seemingly pleased that his friend and comrade found him interesting or important enough to tell his sister about, and nodded with a 'hm.'

A bespectacled brunette chuckled and feigned flattery. "Erwin, you love us so much that you include us in your letters to your sister? We are touched."

Erwin ignored her – or him, Evelina was uncertain – and pushed a piece of Evelina's hair from her face while carrying on with the conversation. "And you're staying out of trouble? I love you unconditionally, blondie, but if you embarrass me I might have to give you a hug quota next visit."

"Anything but the hug quota!" Evelina exclaimed, attacking her thirty-some-odd year old brother with another hug. "Of course I stay out of trouble, what kind of reprobate do you take me for?"

"Still building your vocabulary, I see. Tell me, how many time per letter do you grab a dictionary, now?"

"Erwin dear, you're lucky if it's once these days."

"I've raised you right," he bragged mostly for his own reaffirmation. He, not their parents, encouraged her love of learning. "But it would seem I need to step up my vocabulary game. Before I go, are there any boys - or girls for that matter - I need to be scaring away?"

"Right," Evelina snorted. "People being attracted to _me, _Erwin, that is a good one. If my face doesn't scare them away then the fact I am more intelligent does," she joked. She was no Aphrodite but she was content with the way she looked mostly because the last thing on her mind was physical appearance. "Books are better than kissing, anyway. Are you staying in town for a few days, or are you on your way back to Wall Rose?"

"Sorry, Inna," he said, pulling her into another hug. "I can't stay this time."

"Oh," her face fell. "That's okay. As long as you don't forget to write…I'm glad I happened to catch you on your way out of Sina, I was afraid that today would be the day you met with the Supreme Commander and I would not get to see you because of that stupid party. By the way, did you get my last letter yet?"

"Not yet; it should be waiting for me at HQ. Will I finally learn the conclusion to the Betty Freeh drama?"

"You mean did I put that unbearable little blabbermouth in her place? Damn right I did, and I'll tell you now," she grinned maliciously and made an evil finger pyramid of victory. "Betty will not be trifling with me again anytime soon. Nobody fu – whoops, there are other adults besides you present – nobody messes with a Smith and gets away with it. I won't tell you more because I literally gave myself a wrist cramp writing that part of the letter; I left nothing out so it will feel like I'm telling you in person. I'm sure you can imagine the vocal inflections and wild gesticulations that would accompany an in person explanation."

"I'm looking forward to it," he said, patting his horse in a subtle 'I-should-go-now' gesture.

Evelina nervously ran her fingers through her blonde hair and reached out to touch her brother's horse. "I suppose I should let you go. Otherwise your friends will be here all night and will all want to punch you more than I imagine they want to on a daily basis," she turned to Mike, Commander Shadis, the grumpy man behind him, and the person with the glasses and said, "He's not always a pain in the ass, he has his moments, and I tell him him to play nice, but -" she shrugged and turned back to Erwin. "Hurry back for a visit, I could do with more brotherly corruption, and I miss almost kicking your tail in chess."

"We'll see, Inna," he kissed her forehead before he turned around to mount his horse. "Maybe."

"Mother is doing all she can to make me into the perfect little socialite housewife since her first child decided to go rouge and join the Scouting Legion," Evelina teased, standing on her tiptoes for one more awkward hug. "Hey, one question before you go, and please don't laugh at me because it is an absurdly stupid question."

"Ask away."

"Our cousin Ralf is at the party as well and about two hours in, he came to talk to me and mentioned that he saw Mother down three glasses of clear liquor. Given her usual drinking rate at parties, the total number may be as high as five plus her standard minimum two glasses of vine, so do you think she is drunk enough to be gossiping too hard to notice if I just go home instead of go back to the party?"

Erwin tried, but failed to stifle the laughter. "You have no idea how to get back over that fence, do you?"

"No, I could _definitely _jump that fence again. I just do not want to go back to that party, so do you think she is drunk enough for me to have a reasonable chance of successfully sneaking home?"

"You do not know how to get back over the fence, and I say risk it anyway," Erwin said, moving his horse forward as the rest of his comrades began to move. "Life's too short to always worry about what Mother will think, is it not?"

"Yeah," Evelina said once he was out of earshot. "It is."


	3. Otto Smith

Notes: Still don't own SNK.

I have this headcanon that Erwin was born a noble, and to make this a bit unique, nobles have given names, first names, middle, and last name. The given name is something passed down in families and often the same from father to son and mother to daughter, and it is more of a title than a name. The first name is what they go by, and then there is a middle name, and a surname.

* * *

><p><strong>Otto Smith<strong>

* * *

><p>"What are you doing awake, Miss?"<p>

Evelina stopped brushing her hair and placed her brush back on the vanity. "Felicity," she chuckled at her nanny-turned-maid. "It is a Tuesday; I have math and grammar lessons with Madame Wahlberg."

"Not today, Miss. Your mother asked me to wake you at this time to let you know she has told your governess to cancel today."

"Did Mother tell you why, Felly? Oh, and drop the miss when it is just you and me, you practically raised me."

"Your mother did not say anything," she shook her head and patted her graying bun. "Sorry I can't give you more information."

"No, no, don't worry about it. If lessons are cancelled then I may as well pay a visit to Arthur and Leonie. You will figure out a lie to tell Mother, right?"

"As always," Felicity promised as she set to work cleaning the room.

Still in her nightgown, Evelina tiptoed to the staircase and leaned over the banister. "Mother," she called down into the foyer. "Is there a specific reason you cancelled my lessons today?"

To her surprise, there wasn't the faintest sign of life from downstairs, and considering it was a Tuesday morning, that was beyond unusual. _Oh well, _she shrugged and walked across the hall to Erwin's old room. Felicity once stated that the only people who touched it after he left for the military were the maids who took care of the dust, which led Evelina to believe that her parents did not hate him as much as they pretended to. Parents who hated their children did not leave their bedroom like a shrine to them.

Given that her parents never set foot in the room, it was the perfect place to hide possessions she did not want discovered; more specifically, clothes. Hanging at the back of Erwin's closet was a commoner's outfit Evelina had pieced together with items borrowed from Arthur's, Leonie's, and Erwin's collections of outgrown clothes. Too tight trousers and slightly too large boots Erwin wore when he was thirteen, a white shirt and sleeveless tunic from Arthur, and a brown hooded cape from Leonie that hid what little evidence she had of her feminine figure made up an outfit that disguised her beyond recognition. The outfit was not shabby enough for her to be mistaken for a servant, but was so ordinary that she looked like a governess's or financier's child, or a member of the least elite class of nobles her mother liked to call 'barely nobility.' With her barely nobility disguise, she was able to walk through town to get to the farm Arthur and Leonie's families lived and worked on without attracting suspicion. Seeing as both of her parents were not home, she decided to seize the opportunity before the window closed itself on her.

Often, she wished that she herself could have lived on a farm where there were trees to climb, fields to run through, grassy hills to roll down, and best of all nobody to shame a girl for wanting to make her own salad. Her fondest childhood memories were of sneaking off to the farm to visit her friends. She knew that she could not stay long, for it was almost harvest season, but a few hours could be spared. The first person she saw when she reached the farm was Leonie.

"Leonie, turn around!"

"Evelina! Oi, Arthur," Leonie shouted across the field. "S'our runaway rich girl, come to visit us, say hello!"

Leonie and Arthur dropped whatever tools they were holding and ran across the field to greet their friend with bear hugs. "You, little missy, are in big trouble," Leonie scolded.

"Yes, you haven't been to see us in over three weeks," Arthur pouted like a child and wiped away an imaginary tear. "We thought you forgot about us, you heartless demon."

"Right, I did, but I woke up this morning and remembered that I had two loser friends on the farm and may as well see if they wanted to hang out."

"So we are your backup plan boredom activity? That hurts," he mimicked being stabbed in the chest, but yelped in pain for real when Leonie smacked him upside the head. "Abuse!"

"Maybe if my boyfriend weren't such an idiot, I wouldn't have to smack him," Leonie teased, planting a kiss on his cheek. "Come on, let's go sit by the creek and catch up with our little blondie."

:-:

Leonie Pascal was a relatively short, green-eyed, firmly built brunette with a fiery personality that presented itself in both the best and the worst ways. Leonie's love knew now bounds. She was a steadfast friend, a devoted girlfriend, and her parents' most dutiful daughter, but was also someone whose hate a person did not wish upon their worst enemies. She was a person who always had a strong opinion and never hesitated to speak her mind

Balancing out her fierceness and intensity was her incredibly tame boyfriend, the brunet, steely grey-eyed Arthur Bode. Upon meeting him, people tended to think instead of his girlfriend, he was the one to be afraid to of. Arthur was a tall, muscular young man with a gravelly voice, and like all of the males from his village of origin, sported several piercings on his right ear. His accent and occasional use of words unfamiliar to the people in and around their area of Wall Sina set him apart as an 'other' and even people in his same social class shied away from him. One look at his piercings and people took off running, but once somebody took the time to talk to him, they shortly discovered that the mysterious out-of-towner was nothing but a docile old dog.

Their trio was odd, and sometimes, Evelina debated with herself about whether or not she even belonged there, but she could not possibly ask for better friends. In a way, she owed her open-minded existence to the couple just as much as she owed it to her brother, nanny-maid, and cousin. By the influence of those five people, she learned things that she never would have learned from her parents, and could not imagine her life any different.

"Come visit us more," Leonie demanded in a ridiculously sweet voice, her head in the younger girl's lap, legs thrown across her boyfriend's. "It's dull without your visits."

"We have plenty of fun on our own, but we miss our runaway rich girl," Arthur said tossing a stone at a squirrel as it leapt from tree to tree. "Plus, sentiment, childhood attachments, you know?"

"I still feel awful about you and your moms being ousted from my home. If I had not been so stubborn and insisted on being friend with you, you would still be living in the servants' quarters and your moms would have nicer jobs," Evelina twirled a strand of her hair around her finger and let out a sigh. "How unfair."

"Ma hated yours, anyway," Arthur laughed.

"Everyone hates my mother, except Father and I," Evelina pointed out. "Even then, I find her barely tolerable time to time. I cannot believe your mothers don't resent me for all of that."

"Nonsense! Mom was actually glad to be kicked out of the Smith home. She is worlds happier living and working on this farm, and so is Arthur's Ma."

Evelina patted Leonie's head and shrugged with a grin on her face. "All right, then, if you say so. Sun is at its highest point, guys. I should go home."

"At least let me horseback you to the edge of town, it's one hell of a walk," Arthur offered.

"No, I'm okay, I can walk it. Thank you, though," she said, hopping to her feet.

:-:

Whether a person believed in God, karma, the Walls, destiny, or kismet was irrelevant. The indisputable fact of existence was that the universe worked in infuriatingly strange and confusing ways. Even things that should be and have every reason to be guarantees were not granted one hundred percent certainty. Improbabilities were another thing that threw the balance of the universe off-kilter and into entropy. The domino effect, how one decision had the potential to set off a chain reaction of related but separate events, was yet another mortal enemy of order and security.

Adults blamed the disorder in the world on many things: politics, the poor, fate, greed, money or lack thereof, titans, the military, the list went on forever. Evelina firmly believe that people were the heart and soul of the problem. Humanity was precious to her, but not even she could deny that human nature was tricky. People were selfish and made decisions that affected others without so much as their input. The wealthy shamelessly took advantage of the poor and took more taxes or rent from tenants than necessary. Children, especially young girls in Sina, were encouraged to not think rather than be curious.

Occurrences of improbabilities were a fact of life, but, as Evelina found out later that day, you never quite understand what that means until it happen to you.

Later, she figured that she should have known something was fishy when Felicity screeched in fear upon seeing her enter the house through the kitchen door. The look in her nanny-maid's eyes was of pure, unadulterated horror. Had it been another one of her family's employees, Evelina would have thought the reason for the screech was her commoners' outfit, but since it was Felicity, that could not have been the case. The middle-aged woman grabbed her longtime charge by the wrist and dragged her into the cupboard.

"Felly!"

"Listen dear, please, I need you to stay calm and listen. Your father…there is somebody here to see you, a man, and he is friends with your father. I hid a dress in here about an hour ago," Felicity knelt down and slid a dress from under the bottom shelf. "Change into this dress right here, right now, and join your parents and their guest in the sitting room. You need to be on your best, best behavior – oh, dearie, there is no time to freshen you up…well, hurry and put that dress on, it will have to do."

Without a mirror, she could not be certain, but she was positive that her face had lost its color. Felicity had been employed by the Smith family since she was fifteen, and that was twenty-nine years ago. She had been by Otto, Maite, Erwin, and Evelina through the family's most trying times – financial rough patches due to Otto's gambling, Maite's two miscarriages between her son and daughter, Erwin's near-deadly battle with the measles, Evelina's first menstrual cycle and every one thereafter, broken bones for both children – nothing, literally, nothing threw Felicity.

Nothing, that is, except for whatever Otto's friend wanted.

"My favorite dress," Evelina said, smoothing out a wrinkle in the black material.

"I wanted you to smile," Felicity said soft as a butterfly's wing.

Evelina stepped out of the cupboard, grabbed a butter roll from the basket on the island counter, and devoured it on her way to the sitting room. Her best behavior must have been too much to ask, because instead of silently joining her mother on the sofa, she entered the room with a classic noisy, cheery, Evelina Smith greeting.

"Hello Mother, Father -" and queue the obnoxious curtsey " – honored guest."

"Oh, Mr. Vogel, our daughter," Otto said, the most ersatz grin imaginable plastered onto his face. "She is a lively, joyful one, an utter delight."

"Yes," Maite added, wearing a smile as big as Otto's, but hers was genuine. "Evie is our sunshine."

"Mother, please, you named me Evelina," the teenager chuckled pleasantly as she took her seat. "I am sorry to have kept you waiting, I was, visiting a friend. Claudia Arend, you all know her, correct? I wanted to properly thank her for last week's lovely evening."

"Polite, too," Mr. Vogel's hoarse voice droned.

Mr. Vogel was one of her father's gambling opponents and was one of the eldest males in Sina's fifth most powerful family, beaten out only by his own father. Evelina did not know much of the man, other than he was twice a widower and about a decade her father's senior. If Mr. Vogel had children, she either had not met them, or, they weren't in the right age group for her to interact with enough to remember meeting them. He was clearly a man to flaunt his wealth, more so than even her own parents, and a thick air of self-importance surrounded his very presence. The smile on his face and look in his cold blue eyes was even more unnerving than her father's nervous knuckle-cracking.

Otto Smith cleared his throat and gestured to his daughter. "Abelhard, do tell my little girl why you have come to see us."

"Right, Otto, yes, I was so enamored by this vivacious creature's entrance that I almost forgot," chuckled the older man with more mockery than mirth. "Miss Smith, would you mind telling me your full name?"

"Sir," she asked, confused. "All of my names?"

"Yes, your given, first, middle, surname, and maternal surname, if you do not mind."

"My full name is Maria Evelina Tatiana Smith, and my mother's maiden name is Arriaga," she said.

"Hm, only one middle name," Mr. Vogel noted aloud. "How unusual, I believe both of your parents have at least two. Then again, you _are _a peculiar young woman, are you not?"

Evelina bit her lip and let out a nervous laugh. "Sir, I like to take words such as peculiar and odd as compliments, and I hope you intended it as such."

"Of course, darling, of course," Mr. Vogel cleared his throat and tapped his cane on the stone floor. "Would you like to know what brings me here today?"

"Yes sir," the teenager nodded politely and lowered her eyes until he began to speak.

"By now, you are well-aware of your father's gambling habit. You also know that at Miss Claudia Arend's birthday celebration, your father went into the Arends' sitting room and spent the night betting with our peers. Your father gambled away a considerable portion of the Smith fortune to me that night, but being the gracious man I am, I offered him an alternative. His money –" the unnecessary dramatic pause only made the girl's palms sweat. " – in exchange for his daughter."

_His money…in exchange for his daughter._

Those last seven words were all that mattered to her. _His money in exchange for daughter, his money in exchange for his daughter, his money…_

…_for his daughter_

_money…_

…_daughter. _

_Money. Daughter. _

Money, money, money, all that ever really mattered was money.

"Mr. Vogel, I am sorry, but I need clarification," Evelina said evenly, trying to keep it together. "You are here, so logic says Father agreed to the deal, but on whose behalf did you ask for my hand?"

"My son, of course," Mr. Vogel droned, stroking his salt and pepper beard. "Kristofer, he is twenty. Your surprise is understandable, Kristofer was very surprised when I told him this morning."

Maite clasped her daughter's hand and grinned like a giddy child on their birthday. "Your father and I have already arranged the details with the Vogels. An arranged marriage to a man with a pedigree like Kristofer Vogel will serve you well socially, financially, and it would seem that Vogel men are blessings for fertility."

Evelina could not believe her ears; her mother was already talking about her having children with this man. "This is wonderful news, Mother, Father, Mr. Vogel. Have you decided when the wedding will be?"

"Marvelous! You are only fourteen, so your father and I believe it is best to wait until you are at least fifteen," Maite said, patting her daughter's hand with enthusiasm. "I married your father when I was seventeen and he was twenty-three, a healthy age difference is important in a marriage, agreed, Abelhard?"

"Absolutely, my late wives were four and elven years my juniors," Mr. Vogel wore a pained expression; perhaps the man had a soul after all. "I would not have had it any other way."

Every fiber of her being was telling her to stand up, scream, shout, break a vase, light a log on fire and toss it at her unwanted future father-in-law, to do something – anything! – to make her true feelings known. Instead of fighting it, instead of Evelina Smith taking a stand for what Evelina wanted, she sat still and lied like a pro.

Yes, Mr. Vogel, I am eager to marry your son.

Absolutely, let the engagement celebration be tomorrow night.

I am sure I will fall in love when I see him, too, Mr. Vogel.

Pleasure meeting you, Mr. Vogel, come again.

It was not until after she saw his carriage pull away from the house that she leapt to her feet and kicked the sofa so hard it moved back a couple of centimeters. White hot rage filled her to the core, heart and soul, inside and out, mind and spirit. The betrayal from her parents, particularly her father, over being literally gambled away in a poker game cut her to the bone, beyond the bone, _through it_. The room spun and froze at the same time, the temperature both rose and fell, the world was in monochrome as well as color, this was a dream but she was also wide awake.

"You bastard," she growled at her father. "You selfish, appalling, abysmal excuse for a father bastard!"

"Evelina, language," Maite snapped.

"You have no right," she said, her voice shaking with the rage threatening to spill over. "Neither of you have the fucking right!"

Her mother reached out to grab her wrist, but Evelina slapped her away. "Evelina, sit down"

"No! I'm going to my room," she hissed.

She sent a final glare of her shoulder before storming off to her bedroom and locking the door.

:-:

An hour later, and neither of her parents had come upstairs to talk to her. She imagined that most children would have been offended, but in her case, leaving her alone was the only thing her parents had done right that day. Strewn across her bedroom floor were numerous balls of crumpled paper each with a rejected line or two written. Resting on the desk in front of her, ink smudged in some places with teardrops, was the final copy of the letter.

_Erwin,_

_Today, Mother and Father told me something terrifying and it is very important that I share it with you. I cannot, do not, and will not expect you to do anything about it. This is not something I imagine you should be concerned with; however, you deserve to know. You are the last person in the Walls who needs to be told about Father and his poker habit. Father usually wins, so I suppose that is why it has never bothered me before. There was a poker match at Claudia's birthday party and Father apparently lost big. Mr. Abelhard Vogel came to our home today to speak with me. Mr. Vogel told me that Father lost a large portion of the Smith fortunate to him in that poker match, and basically, he offered to cut father a deal. The deal was that Father could keep the money, but instead of the fortune, he had to give me away. _

_In case I was not clear enough, Mr. Vogel wanted me to marry his son in exchange for Father keeping the money. Tomorrow night is the engagement party and that is when I will meet him for the first time. All I know is that his name is Kristofer, he is twenty, he found out about the engagement a few hours before I did, and our fathers want to us to marry next year. I am terrified about tomorrow, about meeting my fiancé, about meeting a stranger. By the time you receive this letter in three days' time, I will have met him. Erwin, I may be overstepping the boundaries of what appropriate and plausible requests are when I say this, but if it is at all possible, could you ask your Commander if you can come to Sina? You do not even have to stay the night at Uncle Felix's, just see if you can take a day to ride out, visit for a few hours, and ride back. If you can't get permission, I understand, but at least write back telling me what to do. _

_If I was ever this afraid before, I was too young to remember. The combination of emotions from all of my bad memories is nothing compared to how I am feeling after today's news. The room both spun and froze at once, I was numb but had never felt so alive, I was paralyzed with fear but also shaking with rage, I wanted to cry but I also wanted to laugh. I shouted at Mother and Father, told them they were awful, and almost let it slip that I have been writing to you._

_Erwin, I need your help. Tell me what to do, give me your advice; you always give such helpful advice. If your only advice is to sit still and let this happen, I will do just that, and if you tell me to run, I will do that. Given my panicked state of mind, the only person's judgment I trust anymore is yours. You always have answers. I need answers._

_Your nervous wreck of a sibling,_

Evelina raked her fingers through her blonde hair and allowed her head to fall to the surface of the desk. She blinked the last few tears from her eyes and decided that once she signed the letter with the nickname Erwin gave her there would be no more tears.

_Inna_

There, she declared silently.

Three soft knocks at the door interrupted the process of folding the letter. Assuming it was her mother, she shouted at the top of her lungs for her to go away and took the liberty of using obscene language solely to spite her.

"It isn't your mother," a gentle voice on the other end replied.

"Felly," Evelina gasped, jumping up and running to the door. "I never meant to curse at you, I thought you were Mother."

"I came to see how you were," Felicity's eyes were filled with the same compassion they always had been. "Is there anything I can possibly do?"

"I have a letter for Erwin. Can you bring it to Uncle Felix's house so he can send it off? Also," she hesitated, she didn't want to ask too much of her nanny, but the woman did bring it upon herself when she came to check on her. "When you get back, can you…hug me goodnight like when I was small?"

Felicity kissed the top of Evelina's forehead, cupped her face in her hands, and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "You wait here, I will take of that letter."

"Thank you," she meant to say aloud, but it came out as more of a labored whisper.


	4. Mid-Sweet Talk

Welp. Apparently Erwin's connections with the nobility mentioned in ACWNR can't be that he was born noble – a recent chapter of SNK disproved that theory. I'll keep writing this under the assumption that the Smiths are a noble bloodline. Hooray for AU!

* * *

><p><strong>Mid-Sweet Talk<strong>

* * *

><p>Evelina stood before her cracked full body mirror with an expressionless face. All of her tears had been cried, her throat was sore from screaming, and she'd already punched her mirror and broken it. Sadness and rage had both run their courses and replacing them was a sense of apathy uncharacteristic to the youngest Smith. She did not even have the energy within her to hate the dress her mother chose for her or to disassemble the intricate up-do and replace it with the simple braid she preferred.<p>

Her hands slid down the silky red fabric of her dress; by far, it was the grandest ensemble Maite had ever chosen for her daughter. The red gown reached to the floor and she would have to be careful to not trip on or tear it. The lace-up corset was pulled so tightly that breathing was a chore, a chore made twice as difficult by the ivory pearls and garnet crystals adorning the corset and upper sleeves. The dress bared her shoulders and the space just above her breasts but covered everything else and was complete with intricate gold embroidery in the style of ivy leaves and lower sleeves of the same color. Whether the gems sewn into the gown were real or not, Evelina did not know for sure, but knowing her mother, the shiny dots on the dress were real rubies and diamonds.

_What a waste,_ she poked at one of the gems as if it were a flesh-eating monster.

Had she gotten a say, she would have worn something simpler and worlds more practical – but she never had a say in anything, did she? Her opinions, feelings, desires and dreams mattered not to Maite. Like every other child born to Sina's nobility, she was a slab of clay tossed onto the potter's wheel for molding and shaping, and like a slab of clay, entirely at the mercy of the potter's hand. Noble families weren't families in the traditional sense; rather, they were vessels through which bloodlines and surnames remained extant. Since her birth Evelina Smith has been spun around on the wheel nonstop while her parents tried to mold and shape her into the perfect noble girl, and her engagement to Kristofer Vogel was just another method. Maite and Otto had, in their minds, failed with Erwin, and they would rather be forced to live in the outer walls than have their second child grow up to be anything but the model noble.

Long gone were the days where Evelina would kick, scream, and fight tooth and nail to get her way. At fourteen years old, she was used to obeying and pretending. Tonight would be no different. In twenty short minutes she was set to meet her fiancé. She had her dialogue rehearsed and memorized. False pleasantries, obligatory declarations of love at first sight, and insincere compliments, all scripted early that morning, were kept in a little box at the front of her mind.

"Evelina, darling," Maite entered her daughters room sans permission with an item covered with a piece of white fabric.

"Mother," Evelina turned to her mother with the largest forced smile she could muster. "I seem to be ready early for once. I realize now that this surprise engagement is just part of our lifestyle – after all, you and Father were an arranged marriage."

"Yes, my dear," Maite unraveled the cloth from around the item and gazed lovingly at it. "I cannot express how pleased I am to hear that, because this circlet in my hands is the same one I wore to my engagement ball and my mother before me and her mother before her. It would mean the world to me if you continued the tradition."

Evelina took the golden circlet from her mother and turned it over in her hands. There was nothing intricate about the piece's design and the only adornment was a ruby in the center. It was the ugliest thing she had ever seen because of what it symbolized but the most beautiful because of its simplicity.

Maite stood before her daughter, white fabric clenched between her hands, anxious with anticipation of her daughter's answer. Of course she would say yes, and why wouldn't she? The circlet was beautiful but the gift had nothing to do with it. Maite was the mother and Evelina the child, and obedience was simply the only solution.

With the circlet still in her hands, Evelina nodded and forced a small grin. "Put it on me?"

"Gladly," Maite took the circlet from her daughter's hands and worked it around the multitude of hair pins and decorations to ensure it held steady. "You look like a bride already. You will make a fine wife to young Mr. Vogel."

"Kristofer," Evelina murmured. "His name is Kristofer."

"Of course, dear," Maite tapped the bridge of Evelina's nose with her finger. "If only your brother would have turned out like you. Evelina, you are faithful, obedient, responsible, and a noble's noble. Your brother is none of those things."

"Surely our lives are different," she managed through her teeth, fists clenched in rage at the badmouthing of not only her brother and idol, but this woman's son. "Will you please give me five minutes to finish readying myself in privacy? I will be down for the carriage before it even arrives I can promise you."

Maite nodded and excused herself from the room.

Evelina had half a mind to take the circlet and defenestrate it based solely off of her mother's comments about the only Smith she ever loved, but instead, she scolded herself.

Idiot, she told herself, you should be used to the witch's harsh words and they are not worth throwing a tantrum over.

She stole one last look in the mirror, changed her earrings from the hoops with the noisy diamonds clanging against each other at the end of silver chains to her favorite pair fashioned after bluejays, and extinguished the flames burning in the candelabras. As promised she beat both of her parents downstairs.

Otto would not even look at her and nor would she look at him. She might have been able to switch to the façade of the happy bride-to-be for her mother but she could not being herself to do the same for her father. Perhaps it was because, unlike Maite who thought that her daughter's engagement was something to celebrate, Otto was ashamed.

Good, the teenager thought to herself haughty and satisfied, he deserves to feel awful until it consumes him.

"Let's go," Evelina pushed open the front door and led the way down the marble steps to the waiting carriage.

:-:

The bumps in the street did not bother her at all that night. Anxiety and adrenaline riddled her body and filled it so completely that things like annoyance had no room to exist. That night, the bumps in the road meant that with each one, she was getting closer to the Vogel Estate and too her future, and the sooner she met Kristofer the sooner her night would be over.

The sooner, she reminded herself, I can pretend it is a bad dream.

Maite Smith was many things but a liar was not among them. She had meant it when she said the Vogel family line was one whose influence and wealth reigned supreme in comparison to the Smith line. The only building in Sina larger than the momentous Vogel Estate was the Military Headquarters; the thing was a behemoth of a structure. In fact, as impressive as they were, momentous and behemoth were understatements, and Evelina was positive she didn't have a single word in her vocabulary that could properly describe the size of her – she shuddered at the thought – fiancé's home. Large marble columns decorated with leaves and scrolls both supported the roof and accentuated the space between the top of the front steps and the front door. Maybe it was the fact that her destiny stood somewhere beyond that door, or perhaps it was the grandiosity of it all, but in a way, the columns made the double doors a holy ground of sorts. Had she not known any better she would had thought she was entering the home of the king. Torn between dread and curiosity, Evelina's hands rested upon the golden door handles but she did not push down to open the doors.

From over her shoulder her mother appeared and gently pushed her smaller hands from the handles. Maite's multiple rings clinked against the metal as her fingers closed around the handles, and her affectionate involuntary laughter accompanied the click of the unlocked latches. How cute, the elder Smith woman assumed her daughter was nervous with giddiness rather than what it truly was – fear, anxiety, uncertainty.

Proper ladies conceal their surprise, her mother's voice played in her mind when she saw what was behind the double doors, and even with the reminder she could not stop the gasp of surprise.

A foyer, decorated with portraits and a carpet so beautiful she did not want to step on it, separated the first set of double doors from a larger set which stood open with armed Military Police officers in formal regalia guarding the entryway and a servant with a guest list standing in front of them. Behind the soldiers was a ballroom walls more splendid than any she'd seen before with decorations to put Felly's skill with décor to shame – though she would never tell her dear nanny – and frankly she found the level of grandiosity to be ostentatious if not a little pretentious. It was not as if Mr. Kristofer Vogel was celebrating an engagement to somebody important; she was just a girl from the Smith family, not a princess.

The armed guards, one of whom whose face vaguely reminded her of somebody, stood still as statues even as her parents greeted the servant, Otto with a genuine albeit barely-there politeness and Maite with her condescending tone and superiority complex, and only moved to briefly bow their heads as the Smiths entered the ballroom. As Military Police guards could only be present at events hosted by a former Military Police officer she found it strange for her engagement party to have them at the doors; particularly because of the nobility's stigma against enlisting in an institution so overcome by 'lower class slobs.'

Granted, the Military Police wasn't the Garrison, and it was certainly more prestigious than the Scouting Legion. The well-regarded reputation of the MP aside, what a man of Abelhard Vogel's pedigree could want with the military, she had no idea.

A cold as corpse hand gasped onto one of her exposed shoulders and jerked her from her thoughts and observations rather prematurely. "Oh," she audibly expressed her surprise and accompanied the exclamation with a slight scowl.

"I do apologize, Ms. Smith," a syrupy-sweet voice behind her purred. "Goodness me, you startle, I will have to remember that if you are to live in my home."

"Mr. Vogel," Evelina turned around, careful not to trip on her dress, and extended an arm heavily ornamented with jewelry. "Pleasure."

"The pleasure is mine, Ms. Smith," Mr. Vogel took her hand and held on a beat to long for a handshake. "It is a joy to welcome you into my family."

"Thank you for allowing it," Evelina delivered one of her rehearsed lines with ease and curtsied with her head down to hide the smile she knew was unconvincing. "And do call me Evelina, Ms. Smith is so formal."

"Where is the groom-to-be?" Maite asked before Mr. Vogel could say anything else.

"Right this way, by the bar."

Evelina suppressed the urge to roll her eyes because 'by the bar' probably meant drunk or at the very least getting there. She followed Mr. Vogel and her parents to the bar where Kristofer stood with an older woman, probably an aunt, with a glass of vine, not hard liquor, in his hand. Admittedly, Kristofer Vogel was a handsome young man, but good looks do not a husband make.

The young man must have taken after his late mother because the only physical feature he took from Abelhard Vogel was his subtly pointed nose. Kristofer stood head and shoulders above both Mr. Vogel and Otto Smith, and though Evelina was accustomed to craning her neck to converse with Erwin and Arthur, he dwarfed her and the angle at which she had to hold her head in order to properly look at him was uncomfortable. A tall man with the muscle to match, his size alone made him imposing and combined with the regal aura surrounding his very existence, he was almost downright unapproachable. His build and stateliness aside, something about him made him seem the opposite of intimidating. Maybe it was that his blue eyes were so reminiscent of the brother she loved, or that his smile was just as forced as hers when he shook her hand, or it could have been the fact that he looked as confused as she felt. Regardless of the reason, when their parents left them alone together after they exchanged the obligatory 'my son/daughter will make an excellent husband/wife to your son/daughter' statements, she was no longer terrified of the man.

An awkward silence which lasted nearly a minute followed once their parents left but Kristofer soon broke it by offering Evelina a glass of vine and a smile. "You look like you need it," he shrugged when she took it and took a sip from his own glass. "We both do."

"Thank you Mr. Vogel," Evelina said without looking him in the eye.

Kristofer visibly recoiled at the formal address. "It's just Kris, or if you must be proper about it, Kristofer. Mr. Vogel is my father, Ms. Smith."

"Evelina," she corrected. "Ms. Smith is my mother though I like to pretend otherwise."

"We have that in common," he said in reference to his father.

Evelina looked around the room and the décor and believed it impossible for a ballroom of that size to have been decorated in just twenty-fur hours' time. She turned to him to ask him a bold statement bordering on an accusation. "This room is quite large, Kris. Your father said you found out about the engagement mere hours before I did, but this room had to have been in the decoration process long before then. I daresay your father's statement was mendacious."

"The woman who left with our parents was my aunt, my father's sister. She's nearly twenty years younger and is always throwing parties; the ballroom is constantly being decorated and redecorated. Up until yesterday I planned on making a brief compulsory appearance and retiring to my bedroom to read a book," he frowned at the notion of being accused of knowing earlier but said nothing antagonizing. "And that is the truth."

"I believe you," Evelina looked him in the eye for the first time and brown eyes stared into blue, unblinking, until she made a quarter turn to grab another glass of vine.

"Evelina."

"Yes?"

"If it's any consolation to you, I did not ask for this."

"Thank you, Kris. It is somewhat – no, tremendously – comforting knowing we are on the same page."

"I don't want this either," he said more to himself than to her but she heard it nonetheless.

"Is it because you play for the other team?" she asked as boldly as she had made the prior accusation

Kris's eyes widened and he took a step back upon hearing her words. "What makes you think I'm – no, that is not the reason."

"In our society it is the most likely and plausible reason," she replied, thinking of Ralf. "For a handsome man of your lineage to be twenty and unmarried; at the very least there should have been courting rumors circling 'round the social circles, and I am positive I have heard the names of every male member of the nobility save yours."

"I typically do not do that which will make me a topic of conversation for those nattering gossips," he said, a bite to his voice.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I apologize for prying, I was j-"

"No," Kris shook his head, turned to Evelina, and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. "I'm not used to personal questions is all. Our parents are looking at us, so I'm going to lean in and whisper in your ear and you are going to laugh and swat at me like I'm being lewd," he removed his hands from her shoulders and leaned in to whisper, "I wasn't going to tell you, but since you asked, the reason is not that I am gay, but…one of my father's servants."

Evelina did just as Kris asked and swatted at his arm and feigned laughter. "I am willing to bet my inheritance she is not very happy with you right now."

"She doesn't know," Kris said, winking at her when he caught Otto and Abelhard staring again. "She is with her family in Wall Rose; her sister is sick, and I dread to see her reaction when she returns."

"I am truly sorry," she said, touching his arm and twirling her hair. "Maybe we can quietly divorce after a year and you can run away with her."

Kris again shook his head. "I would never ruin your reputation like that."

Evelina frowned not at his response but the reality of it. While their society was rather open, sexually, it was not very kind to divorced women and especially not divorced noblewomen. Her frown deepened into a grimace until finally she looked into his eyes again and asked the question she did not need to ask.

"So," she bit her lip. "This is actually happening, isn't it?"

"It would appear so," Kris replied, starting on his third glass of vine. "It's getting stuffy in here; there are far too many people I find abhorrent. What do you say we sneak out back and curse our parents' names?"

"Lead the way," she agreed without hesitation. "Just get me out of here."

~.*~.*~.*

Kris Vogel turned out to be a pleasant man to talk to. In another universe, perhaps they would have met on their own terms and become friends, but not the one in which they lived. The subject of their impending marriage was not brought up in private conversation again until the end of the evening, after the toasting, when Evelina prepared to leave the Vogel Estate.

She grabbed Kris's hand, stood on her tiptoes, and whispered into his ear, "I will find a way around this, leave it to me."

Their parents thought it was simply a farewell laced with suggestive undertones.

The first thing she removed when she shut her bedroom door was the circlet - which she violently threw across the room – followed by the insufferable amount of bracelets weighing down her arms which from experience would be sore the next morning. She had forgotten how breathing felt until the heavily bejeweled corset of her similarly adorned dress was no longer compressing her lungs and the moment she unlaced the corset and let the dress fall to her ankles was the most gratifying of her life. She crawled into bed and slipped a hand under her pillow, her preferred sleeping position, and quickly retracted her hand when it hit something pointy like the corner of an –

"Envelope! A letter from Erwin," she threw the pillow from her bed, scurried to her writing desk, and lit a candle so she could read the letter Felly must have received from Uncle Felix while she was gone.

Written in Erwin's calligraphy ten times more legible than hers, was his special nickname for her, Inna, and all the proof she needed to be sure it was from him. She almost thought yesterday's letter had reached him and hoped he'd written back to tell her he would be there the next morning, but even before she saw he had dated the letter three days before she wrote hers, she knew that would not be the case. In the dim candlelight aided by the full moonlight streaming in through the window, Evelina sat with her feet tucked under her nightgown and read Erwin's words as if they were the words of a prophet.

_Dear Inna,_

_You were right when you said the conclusion to the Betty Freeh drama would certainly be the conclusion. Who knew that my little baby sister would grow up to be a blackmailing evil mastermind? Not that I approve of the blackmailing, because I don't, but nobody ever said that a prerequisite to being impressed was endorsement. I am however very curious as to how Ms. Freeh found out about your brief escapades with Dagmar Herzig; if you wish count a couple of tentative kisses as escapades. The information you have on her must be worse than scandalous if it got her to close her mouth about you. I am relieved to hear that what she had on you did not spread as far as she threatened. It would seem our society is harder on girls who stray from the traditional norm than boys who do._

Telling Erwin about Dagmar took a startling amount of courage to force herself to do. She had always operated under the assumption she could tell Erwin anything and everything but as she grew older and began exploring sides of herself she never knew existed, she learned that some things were harder to bring up than others.

_I am admittedly more than a little astonished that you would ask me that question, 'is something wrong with me?,' when Ralf whom you love dearly is a gay male, but I was also a teenager once, and unfortunately it is a time of discoveries which will always lead to more questions than answers. Inna, if nothing else I ever say to you sinks in, let this. There will always be naysayers when it comes to what makes you happy but the people who matter do not care and the people who care do not matter. As much as it terrifies me to think of my little sister discovering sex and sensuality, I have to remind myself that you aren't a little girl, but a young woman. Inna, in your last letter, you wrote that you liked to kiss Mr. Kaulitz but you also liked to hold Ms. Herzig's hand, and the last thing I want is for you to think there is anything wrong with liking both. You are young and have so much life ahead of you. If one day you realize you like one but not the other, good for you. If one day you realize you like to be intimate with neither, good for you. If you continue to like both, good for you. What I have been trying to teach you since you could read letters is the same thing I had engraved on your last birthday present, the bracelet, 'to thine own self be true.' Even if you only like boys there will always be somebody disapproving of your choice in a husband – would you let that stop you from marrying him? Mother disapproves of your friendship with Arthur and Leonie, but have you ever once considered ending the friendship? If you were discovered writing to me you would be in a mountain of trouble but that doesn't stop you from writing, now does it?_

_I say all of this to demonstrate that you cannot control what makes you happy. Sometimes, what makes you happy will have negative consequences such as punishment from Mother and social ridicule, but you have never cared about that and I ask you to not start now. Do you remember when I told you life was too short to worry about what Mother thinks? It is also too short to spare your feelings and desires for others' opinions. You, Inna Smith, are an intelligent, independent, lively young woman with so much to learn about yourself and you should not be ashamed or afraid of anything you learn – unless you discover you have a proclivity for dismembering people and making clothes out of their skin like Edgar Gottfried of Wall Maria; I strongly advise against becoming a serial killer. Speaking of Edgar Gottfried, remind me again why I thought it was a good idea to explain to you what cannibalism meant? You were, what, maybe nine, ten? That is another reason why I purposely remain single because Erwin Smith should never have children._

Evelina bit her lip and her heart sank. She did not care about the statement about him never having children; the thought of never being called 'Auntie Inna' did not bother her because she knew full well her brother's reasons for not taking a wife and starting a family. He liked to joke about how it was because she was so much younger than him that it was like having a daughter anyway, and she was turning out to be so great, he didn't want to 'mess with perfection and risk royally fucking up try number two,' but she knew what he really meant with his jokes. It made perfect sense for him to remain single in his line of work rather than risk leaving behind a grieving widow; his sister was already bad enough, why add a wife to the equation?

It was more like the fact he had said it and made the Edgar Gottfried joke at all. Erwin, despite being in his thirties, very much acted the child when visiting with her. He poked fun at her like a sibling closer in age would, he played any game she wanted, he opened books to random pages and read paragraphs aloud because he knew she hated reading books out of order, and when she got the urge to randomly dance around like teenage girls often do he would – reluctantly – join in.

His visits were all about creating memories filled with laughter, happiness, and love in its purest form. His letters were meant for affirmation his heart was still beating and advice, not jokes. He only included jokes in his letters if he had something not very nice to tell her such as his request for a day's leave being rejected.

Oh well, she thought. She had gone a long time without spending a day with her brother and she could go a little longer. She picked the letter back up and found where she left off.

_I am digressing without you around to elbow my gut mid-tangent. What I am trying to say with this word vomit is there is not a single thing wrong with you thinking you might possibly like girls and boys the same. You are no longer a child so I will not lie to you and say everybody shares my viewpoint, but I can promise you that enough do. I can also promise that as long as I am breathing you have my full support in anything you do short of serial killing._

Here comes the bad news, he usually put the bad news between two blocks of not bad news so it made a bad news sandwich.

_I had hoped that with this letter I could send along the date of my next visit but I am afraid that visit will have to wait. We have received beyond the necessary funding for our next expedition beyond the walls and we leave later this afternoon. If I make it back alive and preferably with all of my appendages intact the first thing I will do is request a brief LOA from Commander Shadis. The Commander has been gracious with granting my requests in the past, and after he witnessed the first happy reunion he had seen in ages - during which you almost hugged to death one of his officers – I doubt he would deny my request unless it was imperative I stay at HQ._

There it is, the bad news, exactly as she predicted. It was the titans might eat me for breakfast kind of bad news, not the my boss needs me here this week sorry Inna kind of bad news. She continued to read, wanting to remember everything he said to her just in case he did become titan food.

_After watching our little street reunion I was asked a couple of questions about you. They were vague questions, but one in particular you might find amusing. "Is the little blonde brat always that chatty?" To which I responded with "Levi, that wasn't chatty, for her that was quiet." I can feel the scowl already. You know I don't mind the chattiness. It gives me something else to focus on aside from titans and things of the military ilk if only for a short while. More than ever I hope I make it home to listen to another lecture about plants, and maybe (not likely but you can dream), you will finally win a game of chess._

_Love always,_

_Erwin Smith_

"Yeah," Evelina sighed, folding up the letter and sliding it back into its envelope. "Love you too, big bro."

She told herself he would be perfectly fine as she crouched next to her bed and reached under it until she grasped what she was aiming for. In a box beneath her bed, hidden among decoy boxes meant to contain jewelry, she kept every letter Erwin had ever sent her since the first letter in 837. From time to time she would reread her favorites, marked with small but distinct ink drawing on the envelope flaps, because no matter how many times she read them they made her smile. Typically she only opened up to letter box when the stretch between letters had gotten a little too long for her comfort. She knew he was a busy man and was thankful or the amount of time he carved out for her, but even for a squad leader, a month without receiving a letter meant it was time to worry.

She had not noticed her grip on the envelope was so tight until she felt the corner bend. "Dammit," she hissed, tossing the letter into the box and shoving it back under her bed. "You're worrying too much, and you've had an eventful day. That's all."

The mantra she repeated since childhood again played in her mind: You are not worried about him; there is no reason to be. He is always okay because he's Erwin. Erwin is invincible. It worked when she was eight; funny thing about eight year old girls is they grow up. Her eyelids eventually grew too heavy to keep open, and if she dreamt at all that night, she did not remember it.

~.*~.*~.*

A requisite piece of a betrothed couple's relationship was for them to spend time together. The first couple of days post-party were full of chaperoned teas, walks through the Vogel Estate's garden, and a short stroll around the capital. Neither fiancé nor fiancée said much to each other when accompanied by Evelina's mother or Kris's father but kept what little they did say genial with a hint of flirtation. Prior to meeting russet-curled blue-eyed Kris, Evelina had not considered herself to be an outstanding actress. By the third day of their engagement she decided acting was not so different from lying, and lying, well, that was something she had down to a science. Her mother and Mr. Vogel were so convinced their children had accepted their fate and taken it lying down that they gave permission for them to take two of the Vogels' horses and go for a ride. To the parents, 'go for a ride' meant ride around the open area just outside of the main city, but to Evelina and Kris, it meant 'Kris, let's go about a dozen kilometers beyond that point and I will show you my favorite place to go.' Evelina was seven years old when she discovered it with Arthur and Leonie. In those seven years she had not even shown Erwin the woodland hideout and had wrestled with herself about to tell Kris or not to tell Kris but in the end decided it was necessary. Should they need to talk privately away from any kind of prying ears the hideout was the safest place she could think of.

"I have to admit, when you said a dozen kilometers, I thought it was in jest," Kris dismounted his horse when Evelina told him to. "However, this is easily at least a dozen from the city."

"I told you, didn't I? I wanted to talk where our parents would not be around to hear."

"Sounds clandestine."

"It is," Evelina said, leading her horse into the woods by its reins while she walked atop the fallen foliage and motioned for Kris to follow.

A couple hundred meters into the forest there was a clearing large enough for them to tie the horses to trees without trees limiting the animals' already small radius of movement, and a stone's throw from the clearing, was a small creek with clear water Evelina wasn't sure was drinkable and a log large enough for sitting lying across the banks like a bridge.

"This was where you played as a child?"

"Ruled," Evelina corrected with a mirthful laugh that took Kris aback. He had not seen her so happy since they met and he did enjoy seeing people happy.

When she was seven and Arthur and Leonie nine the hideaway was their kingdom. They'd even gone as far as giving themselves titles, naming landmarks, and creating a history. If all children were supposed to be founts of stories and imagination, then the comically acronymed ALE trio was a gold mine. The friends made a blood oath to never reveal their hideout to and the last thing she advised anybody to do was break a blood oath but she was pretty sure there would be no consequences unless Arthur secretly offered up their blood droplets to the devils. Considering anything to do with mysticism or theology gave him the creeps, the chances of a demon possessing her soul for showing Kris the hideout were slim.

Besides, as children tended to do, the ALE trio grew up. It had been at least two years since they met by Meeting Tree and raced through Dead Man's Path to risk breaking their legs leaping from branch to branch in Bandit Forest. How only Leonie had ended up actually breaking a bone baffled Evelina to that day.

We could have killed ourselves, she noted as she pulled a flask from her saddle bag and stuffed it in the top of her dress. We all should be dead.

"Here," she pulled the flask from her chest and offered it to Kris. In response to his questioning eyebrow raise she assured him it was nothing strong. "It's vine but I diluted it with pomegranate juice Felly made. Won't get us drunk, I promise."

"Is this speaking from experience?"

"I am a horrible daughter who loves it when her mother throws fits when all her vine's gone and it would be a waste to pour it out, yes?"

Kris accepted the flask and the next few minutes were spent passing it back and forth and dipping their toes in the creek as they sat atop the log. Evelina brought him there for a specific purpose, to talk to him about very specific things, but deciding which words to say was always her least favorite part of social interaction.

"Evelina is a bit of a mouthful," Kris said as he passed the flask back to her and indicated he was done drinking for the time being. "Are you sure you don't have a nickish name?"

She screwed the cap back on and shook her head. "Negative, Captain Vogel. I would offer my middle name for you but I'm afraid Tatiana is also multisyllabic," she paused and absently twirled a lock of hair around her finger. "My brother calls her Inna but I would prefer it remain just him."

"You have a brother? Is he too young to say your name right?"

Evelina snorted in laughter and would have fallen into the creek if not for Kris's lightning reflexes. "Thanks," she giggled as he let go of her arm once she was sturdy. "No, Erwin is thirty-one."

"I have always assumed you were the only child of Otto Smith; I've never heard Erwin's name and as much as I avoid the gossips it is impossible to escape the gossip about your family," Kris help out his hand for the flask. "All of Sina knows of the Smith-Arriaga-Larsen-Perroni clan's dirt."

"People don't talk about him," Evelina said well-aware of her family's popularity in gossip circles. "My parents unofficially disowned him."

It was Kris's turn to snort in laughter. "What could he have possibly done so wrong?"

"When he was my age he ran off to join the military."

"That's nothing that warrants disowning somebody," Kris furrowed his brow and stuck his toes back in the water.

"It is if you join the scouts, which he did," Evelina said. "He's a squad leader now. My parents do not know we write to each other so I would like you to know I am telling you this in confidence."

"Why tell me at all?"

Evelina smiled at Kris, kicked her feet excitedly underwater, and gave a satisfied chuckle. "I told you about the person I love most in the world. Your turn. What's her name?"

"Regine Spieler," Kris answered.

"Regine. That's a pretty name."

"She's a pretty girl."

"When did you meet her?"

"We were children and her father came to work in our stables from Wall Rose. After her father began having health problems her family returned to their home village except for her."

"She stayed for you," Evelina sighed at the romance of it all. She was never one to believe in storybook love but she was a sucker for a real life love story. "How long have you loved her, how many years?"

"Since her father started working in our stables, she was small, then. But so was I, we were only five and I found my tongue frozen in my mouth whenever I wanted to – " Kris's face fell and he eyed Evelina with suspicion. "Why does it matter? I can't be with be with her, it's…well it's wrong."

Evelina shrugged her shoulders and leaned back so that the tips of her blonde waves touched the water. "Sometimes, what makes you happy will have negative consequences such as your father disapproving, but are you going to let that stop you?"

Kris ignored her question and instead told her the same thing he told her the night they met. "That will still come back to hurt your reputation if I demand to end the engagement to marry a servant girl."

"Be selfish, Kris. You have a duty to look out for number one every now and again."

He blinked his blue eyes as the sunlight shone through leaves it previously wasn't shining through and pulled the hood of his cloak up to block it out when blinking was ineffective. "Was this your great plan to get us out of this whole marriage thing – telling my father the truth?"

The blonde sighed and sat up properly as one could on a log and sighed, disappointed. "It was worth a bash but I suppose you're right. Honesty is too idealistic. We'll have to try something sneakier."

"What, like running away?" Kris snorted and downed the last of the vine-juice mixture.

"Yeah!" Evelina exclaimed so excitedly she, again, would have fallen into the creek without Kris's quick thinking. "You said her family is from Wall Rose so you could go ask her dad and he'll say yes and you and Regine can get married and-"

"But where will you run, hm?"

Evelina's enthusiasm again turned to disappointment when she realized that she, the other half of this outfit, had no place to go within Wall Rose. "Damn," she screwed the cap on the flask and stuck it back in her dress.

"My point exactly. Evelina listen to me," Kris reached for her hands and she allowed for him to take them. "I appreciate what you are trying to do for me and Regine but the juxtaposition of our lives and backgrounds makes it so it can never be and we both understand this. Thank you, truly thank you, but it cannot be helped."

"You're wrong," Evelina said, an edge of determination in her voice. "You'll see, Kris, I'll figure something out."

Kris released her hands and pushed a lock of her hair out of her face. "I appreciate the thought, Evelina."

She smiled one of those apology smiles and stared at her feet in the water. "I'm sorry," she said, saying with her body language what she refused to say with her words – I am probably wrong but will not stop hoping.


End file.
